Disclaimer: I do not own Little Children. At All. Like I wish I did because then I'd show a little more of what happened to these characters. But I dont. So I just write fanfics

Authoress Note: This is my Halloween piece for the holiday. Instead of a Nightmare on Elm Street or other horror film piece I went with Little Children, a favorite movie of mine staring some of my favorite actors. Number one being Jackie Earle Haley, and number two being Kate Winslet, who play Ronald "Ronnie" James McGorvey and Sarah Pierce.

Extra Note: I know these two would never work out in the sexual sense. I mean never because of what happens to Ronnie -Insert spoilers here- and because of his nature, and because of Kate's motherly and more mature nature... But I can't help but like these two together. I just cant. It's fucked up and impossible.. But hey, I have liked stranger pairings, so cut me some slack, OK?

"Trick or treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!"

Halloween. She had liked this holiday when she was a child. She'd always dress up as a fairy or princess or even a lady-bug. One year, back in high school she'd dressed as a sexy nun to make her mother mad and go to some party with her friends. It had been a fun time. Fun memories. Memories that... Made her feel kind of old actually.

"Twik a tweet," Lucy mumbled as they stopped at their tenth house, holding up her bag eagerly to an elderly man and his wife who were dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Wilson from Denis the Menace, both smiling down at her odd daughter who was dressed as a Bumblebee, fuzzy sunflower feelers on her head and all. She'd picked it out. It was either this costume or an Indian girl one, which had a broken cheap headband anyway.

As soon as she got her candy and the older couple said bye, Lucy turned and wobbled down the stairs to her mother as the other kids ran off to their parents or to another house with their friends. Sarah took Lucy's hand before leading her on. The next house was the one she'd been wanting to go to anyway. The one she had on her list of things to do tonight.

Tugging Lucy along she headed for the yard with the black mail box titled McGorvey on the side. Lucy was quiet, as usual, as she looked at the next house and pointed. "Twik a tweet? Uncle Ronnie go twik a tweet?" she asked, and Sarah wanted to laugh. Uncle Ronnie. Hmm. How odd a title for such a man. The first time Lucy had called him that, the man who was so like a child, almost looked ready to cry and run. Understandable. Lucy made the man uncomfortable.

And so did she. He tried not to show it, but she knew. He seemed happy to see them, but also looked like he wanted them to leave as quickly as possible. It was saddening really. He didn't need to be alone so much. It wasn't healthy. Ever since his mother died and his... accident... Ronnie had become even more isolated. To the point he wouldn't even go get his paper until he had to leave to get food, since no one would deliver to him if he called and asked.

Hell at one point he didn't come out for three months. Larry Hedges, now back on the force, had come to see about Ronnie after the station had gotten a call from one of Ronnie's neighbors, an elderly gentleman, about having someone check on him to make sure he wasn't dead. Larry had quickly taken the step up to go and Sarah had come as well. The man had called her because she had been the one to help Ronnie get settled back in after he came back from the hospital.

Poor Ronnie... He'd just been passed out in his bathroom from the pain of his self castration. The pain would get better the doctor had said. But it would never go away. Not fully. The doctor had ordered pain meds... Sarah had helped Ronnie pick them up... He'd run out and was afraid to leave to go and get more for himself or even ask for help.

Sarah felt her heart clench at the memory. After that... After what he'd been through for his fear... She'd opted to come over and check on him twice every month. She'd bring him food, sometimes a movie or even some books. Make sure he had medicine and clean clothes and everything else. Spend a little time with him even if he didn't want it. Then would say she'd see him soon and leave.

"Mommy! Go twik a tweet!" Sarah blinked, jumping just slightly as Lucy tugged on her hand, ultimately tugging her out of her thoughts as she realized that she'd stopped by the beginning of Ronnie's yard. She shook her head and began to walk once again to Ronnie's yard, one foot on the grass, when suddenly three figures in black ran across the yard and began to chuck eggs at Ronnie's door!

"What- Hey! Hey! Stop that!" Sarah yelled, picking up Lucy and running towards the boys, who were laughing and yelling out horrible things – things she wished Lucy wasn't hearing – as she ran at them and slapped the eggs out of one of the boys hands. "Leave! Now! Or I'll call the cops! Go on! Get!" The boys laughed and threw more eggs as they ran, hitting a few of the yards bushes with toilet paper as they disappeared.

Sarah breathed heavily and snarled. Juvenile! Juvenile little scum! That's what kids like that were! Idiots like that are what made people hate Halloween, made Halloween become censored and watched. While as a parent she was glad it was safer for her child, as a once fan of the holiday, she was repulsed. Shaking her head angrily, she sat Lucy back on the ground and picked up the leftover eggs in the carton.

Lucy made a face at the eggs splattered on the ground and on the house. "Icky," she said. Sarah gave a dry chuckle and shifted her bag on her shoulder and switched the eggs to her free hand to take Lucy's hand again before they made for the door. She looked sadly at the egg on the side and windows, before knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell.

She let Lucy look through some of the candy she had gotten as they waited. A few minutes passed before she repeated knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell. Lucy held up some Kit Kats and Skittles proudly before going through more of the candy before Sarah frowned at the door and sighed. Of course he wasn't going to answer his door on Halloween. After seeing the egging she didnt blame him for being wary.

Sighing once more Sarah walked over to a chair and reached under the seat to tap at the bottom until she found what she was looking for and tugged at it until she felt the cold metal of a spare key. Ronnie's spare key. She felt bad about knowing where he always tried to hide it. He tried hard to make sure she wouldn't know where to look, but if there was one thing she'd learned about Ronnie, it was that he could be very predictable once you got to know him. So like a child who thought they could hide a wild animal from their parent.

Pushing a strand of hair out of her face, she opened the screen door and stuck the key in the door, grabbing Lucy's hand and pulling her in as she opened the door. Lucy carried her bag of candy to the living-room and instantly took to her favorite spot near an old chair that had belonged to Ronnie's mother and plopped down to look through her candy and play with some of the figurines that had, again, belong to his mother Mae.

She looked around and listened, before spying a dim light on in the kitchen. Walking past Lucy she peered into the kitchen and found Ronnie. He was sitting at the table working on what looked like a broken clock – was that the clock from the living room? - as she walked forward and sat the key on the table and slid it towards him.

He looked up, startled, before frowning a little. His shoulders slumped as he looked at the key. "That was my best spot," he grumbled, making her feel sorry again. He went back to the clock, poking at it with the yellow screwdriver he had, as she walked over to look in the fridge and check the pantry. There was still some food, but not as much as last time. Meaning he was eating. Good.

She closed the pantry and made to walk to the bathroom to check his medicine. "Stop!" he yelled, slamming his tools down. Sarah stopped outside the bathroom, her hand on the door. "I don't need you to check on me," he grumbled, "I've been taking it, OK." Sarah released the door knob and nodded, not saying anything before walking back to the table to sit down her bag near the chair she sat down in.

He stared down at her hands on the table as they both remained silent. This was a common occurrence. Sometimes he'd talk or she would. Sometimes they'd be quiet the whole time til she left, Lucy being the only one to make noises as she played. Odd thing, really. Lucy could be a loud and bratty child sometimes. Especially at times she wasn't at home. But here, at Ronnie's house, she always seemed to know that acting out wasn't a good idea. Like she knew she didn't need to draw a lot of attention to herself. It was an odd thing to Sarah. And yet it made sense. A child knew when something was off. And Lucy, even if she was too young to understand why, knew something wasn't right. That she needed to be good because something wasn't right

And for that she was grateful. As grateful as Ronnie would be. He wouldn't look at Lucy. Not for long. The first time Sarah had brought her over had terrified the man. He'd demanded that she leave, backing up and away from Sarah all the way to the kitchen counter as they stood in the living-room. He'd clutched at his head and started to mutter "I'll be a good boy! I'll be a good boy!" over and over. It had scared Sarah to death. But Lucy seemed calm. She'd tilted her head at him before seeming to get bored and had walked over to play with the figures on Ronnie's table.

And from day one that was what Lucy would do. She never move unless she needed to go to the bathroom or wanted her sippy cup or was hungry. That seemed to help Ronnie remain calm, though he still wouldn't look at her or get to close to her. And truthfully, it made Sarah feel better. While she would not hate or overly judge Ronnie for what he had done, she would protect Lucy. Even from him.

"Why do you have those?" Ronnie asked, jolting her from her train of thought. She looked at him and down at her hands where he was staring and was annoyed to find that she still had the half filled carton of eggs in her hand. Oh yeah. She'd forgotten that. "It's just something some vandals dropped," she mumbled as she got up and dropped the eggs into a metal trashcan and shut the opening and closing lid.

Ronnie stared at the trashcan before standing up and walking to the living-room. Startled she got up to follow him and saw him open the door and look outside and at his siding and windows. His body, his prescience, seemed to draw into himself as he realized what had been done to his house. Sarah walked over to stand behind him. Her eyes wandered up his back before they traveled to the sidewalk where a very faint outline of the word 'EVIL', which someone had written in giant letters in black paint on each individual stepping stone of the McGorvey walkway, remained. He was use to this, she supposed. Use to finding new threats and vandalism to his house. Poor Mae... How had she put up with this? How had Ronnie's mother been able to deal with such things happening to her because of her son?

'She delt with it because she loved him,' a small, all knowing voice spoke up in her mind, as she backed up to allow Ronnie back in, feeling him stiffen as she placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry," Sarah whispered. "I tried to stop them. I saw it happen... But it came so fast and I had Lucy... I'm sorry..." what else could she say? She was sorry. He didn't deserve this.

Ronnie remained stiff as he mumbled, "I'm use to it," before he gingerly pulled back from her touch and looked down at the floor as Lucy stood up. "Twik a tweet, mommy?" she asked, holding up her bag of candy and looking impatient. Halloween. That's right it was Halloween. She looked at her wrist watch and saw that it was still early enough to catch a few more houses.

Sarah looked at Ronnie as he stared at Lucy's bag of candy, but as always avoided looking at the little girl. Sarah stared at the decent sized bag with the smiling pumpkin and gasped. Pumpkin! Shit! She was forgetful tonight, huh? Sighing, Sarah walked through the living-room to grab her large shoulder bag and walked back into the living-room. She sat the bag on his coffee table and reached inside to pull out what she wanted.

A pumpkin. A soccer ball sized one decorated with a smiling face and Happy Halloween written on the side. It had looked cute and well the awkward smile painted on its face reminded her of him – of Ronnie. She stood up straight and sat the pumpkin on the table and looked at him with a warm smile. "It's for you. I thought you might like it."

Ronnie lowered his head as she saw a faint blush on his face as he grumbled a thanks as she grabbed her bag and Lucy's hand and made for the front door. "You should head out back," Ronnie spoke up, not looking at them. "Don't want to be caught coming out of "the monsters" house. Who knows what people will say," he bitterly finished. Sarah's heart clinched and without thinking she reached out, releasing Lucy's hand, and cupped his cheek to pull him closer and down. Too startled, Ronnie was unable to pull away as she placed a kiss on his forehead before releasing him.

"I don't care what people will say or think, Ronnie. You arnt a monster. You did something bad. But everyone in this world has done something bad. Think about that, OK? Don't hold yourself to others views, OK? Not everyone thinks you're a monster, you know?" she softly stated, as she gave him a warm smile. His startled face went red again, his bright blue eyes almost looking ready to cry, as she grabbed Lucy's hand.

"Bye uncle Ronnie," Lucy whispered on her way out as Sarah tugged her lightly along. Sarah heard Ronnie whisper bye before his door closed and they were walking down the sidewalk, ignoring some of the stares other parents were giving them, as Sarah walked Lucy to the next house.

R & R Plz

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